Friends of the Woolie Variety
by Mystical Authoress
Summary: Frey reflects on her friendship with Woolies.


Disclaimer: I don't own Rune Factory 4.

This fic was created for the Rune Factory Secret Santa 2019 event on Tumblr, and this is a gift for peppermintamnesia! They requested a fic that had pairings or a reflective/psycho-social oriented work, so I decided to attempt the latter here, featuring Frey and a bunch of Woolies. I hope you enjoy reading this, and Merry Christmas to you!

Warning: Takes place post-Arc 1 of Rune Factory 4 (and also contains Arc 1 spoilers). Also, lots of (literal) fluff.

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_Friends of the Woolie Variety_

Summary: Frey reflects on her friendship with Woolies.

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Frey sat in the barn in silence.

Surrounding her were none other than several Woolies. One of them "baaed" and approached her, and she smiled, petting them. She loved the Woolies. They were the first Monsters she met after going outside town for the first time, a few days into staying at Selphia, and after learning that she could tame them, why not accumulate a whole barn of them?

Vishnal, Clorica and Volkanon were simultaneously concerned about this when she, one day, ended up bringing four Woolies home.

She tried bringing in _five, _but turns out barns don't allow more than four Monsters in the same space. Frey was mildly disappointed, but she didn't have the lumber and stone needed to add extra space yet.

Oh well. At least she had four new friends now, right?

And four Woolies meant this: Lots of wool.

And wool meant _money._

Cue her sweeping Wool out the barn almost every morning, just after watering the crops. It got her some money while waiting for the crops' readiness for harvest. The Woolies sometimes wandered away from her at times, due to their general aimlessness, and sometimes they accidentally broke out, but she always managed to get them back at the end of the day. It was a quiet life with the Woolies.

A simple one.

A good one. It was peaceful, wonderful, and sweet all at once. The tender "baas" of the Woolies sometimes sent her to sleep. It didn't hurt that their wool was so adorably fluffy, either. There were a few times she did actually fall asleep in the barn, surrounded by the Woolies. Thankfully, they didn't seem to mind, and she'd always wake up to them curled up against her, snoozing soundly.

She wondered, as she fed the Woolies fodder and gave them names, what her life was like. Venti said she was an Earthmate, which apparently meant she was good at farming, but perhaps it also meant she was super-good at taming Monsters. Then again, she'd only tamed Woolies so far, and no other monster types, so she wasn't sure about that. Sometimes she took two of the Woolies out to town for the heck of it (never to go get groceries, though. That was a bad idea with them eating all those carrots one time). She soon learned she could not just tame, but train the Woolies to help fight for her. Not only did it come in hand for that festival, where everyone competed with their monsters in a fighting tournament, but also when exploring more of Selphia.

It was thanks to the Woolies that she found Amber and Dylas. Frey took the Woolies to the two for visiting, to maybe offer them some comfort. Amber loved them; Dylas preferred the Woolies stay out of the restaurant's food, but otherwise liked them.

Everyone seemed to like Woolies, now that she thought of it. Frey thought of giving everyone a Wooly for their birthday.

Volkanon, Venti, Vishnal and Clorica immediately shut it down, citing how everyone already had their own Monsters and also, where would all the Woolies go?

The barn, Frey suggested. She could house them all there. But housing multiple Woolies meant multiple expansions, and potentially creating a second barn. Given her lack of supplies, she couldn't do that all at once. So, she gave up on that goal and decided that, instead of giving everyone a Woolie for their birthday, she would _give everyone Wool_ for their birthday. Wool, other than making cash, also made very good gifts.

Dolce, who she found later on, highly appreciated this to make some Cute Knitting and other sewing projects. Frey was happy to figure this out, and so Wool became one of Dolce's regular gifts from Frey.

Woolies, Frey realized, made excellent friends. When she found out Doug wanted to kill Ventuswill, that he hated her so much for what happened to his clan, Frey didn't know what to do at first. She did later resolve that she couldn't let Venti die and that revenge wasn't worth Venti's death and all, but at the moment, she took comfort in snuggling with the Woolies. The Woolies snuggled with her in response for that whole night, and by morning Frey resolved to fix things.

When Venti collapsed entirely, Frey asked the Woolies to stay with her. Keep Venti comforted and comfortable.

When Frey went to free the last of the four Guardians, Leon, Frey asked the Woolies to stay with Venti and all the rest of the townspeople. None of the others wanted Frey to potentially never come back, even if it was for good reason, but Frey knew that she had to do it, and that the others deserved some Woolies to cuddle with in the meantime.

When Venti woke up surrounded by Woolies and realized where Frey was off to, after Leon told her what happened, she went to get Frey back. The Woolies tried chasing Venti to catch up with her, but it didn't quite work. Venti was, after all, a powerful dragon god. Woolies were, well, Woolies with short stubby legs and not a lot of superpowers.

When Frey and Venti both came back, the Woolies rejoiced, swamped her all at once, and refused to stop doing so until she guided them back to the Monster barn where they belonged.

A "baa" made Frey blink out of her thoughts, and she looked down at one of the Woolies. It was one of the newer ones, newly-tamed from a previous week. Things were at peace. Doug and Venti were in a better place with each other, and all the Guardians were well-accquainted to town. Everyone loved the Woolies.

Frey smiled and petted the Woolie that "baaed" at her.

She was glad she and Woolies were friends. And right now, where all was warm and peaceful, despite still not knowing much about her past, she couldn't imagine life without them.


End file.
